OHLA returns to profitability and increases EBITDA by 23% to €126 million in 2023
February 29, 2024
Achievement of targets. The company significantly exceeded its announced targets, both operationally and in terms of profitability and cash generation.
Best EBITDA since 2015. Gross operating profit increased 23% and exceeded 126 million.
Increased profitability. Construction EBITDA margin increased to 5.1%.
Record order intake and backlog. OHLA reaches a record order intake of €4,120.4 million. Total backlog exceeds €7,781.5 million.
Cash generation. The company has made a qualitative leap in cash generation.
Strengthening of concessions. Further strengthening of this business line following the award of the National Cancer Institute, in addition to other concession projects in that country, Colombia, and Spain.
As a consequence of the strategic decision announced to the market to divest the Services division, this division is included as a discontinued operation in the financial information presented. However, the regulations require the disclosure of comparative figures restated in the Income Statement
In 2023, OHLA consolidated its operational transformation and returned to profitability. The company boosts its profitability and, in terms of cash generation, reverses the holdings of previous years.
As major milestones for the year, it is worth highlighting that the company has achieved:
- The best ebitda since 2015 favored by the Construction business and improved margins.
- Record order intake and backlog, thanks to the relevant positioning in its reference geographic areas: USA, Latin America and Europe.
- Construction’s EBITDA margin grew to 5.1%, favoring the company’s profitability; and
- cash generation before investments and divestments amounted to 103.1 million.
P&L Development
OHLA has grown in the main figures of the P&L in 2023. Sales reached €3,131.5 million, 9.3% more than in 2022. 77% of the turnover was generated abroad. In the distribution of sales in the three geographical reference areas of the company, Europe represents 45.7%, North America 33.7% and Latin America 19.6%. EBITDA increased by 22.9% to 126.1 million euros, reflecting the good evolution of the business.
The improvement in the income statement is also reflected in the evolution of EBIT, which has more than doubled, ending 2023 at 90.7 million compared to 39.0 million in 2022, a growth of 132.6%.
The company returned to profit by closing 2023 with a net attributable profit of 5.5 million compared to a loss of 96.8 million.
Record order intake and backlog
OHLA closed the 2023 financial year with total order intake of 4,120.4 million euros, representing a book-to-bill ratio of 1.3x. The company’s total backlog stands at 7,781.5 million euros. This amount represents an increase of 21.3% compared to 2022.
OHLA ended 2023 with a total liquidity position of 814.9 million euros, which compares very favorably with the 701.7 million euros at the end of 2022. The company ended the year with 103.1 million euros of cash generated from operations before investments and divestments, reversing the trend of previous years.
The company achieves its goals in 2023
The company has met the targets announced to the market for the 2023 financial year. Thus, including the Services division so that the figures can be comparable, since the guidance provided to the market in February 2023 included this division:
- Sales at the end of 2023 were 3,597.4 million, almost 200 million more than the 3,400 million announced in February 2023.
- EBITDA was 137.1 million, exceeding the 125 million expected.
- Order intake reached 4,494.6 million. This figure is almost 900 million higher than the 3,600 million announced in February 2023.
